Residents asked for input on new county growth policy

Lake County residents were asked for input regarding a growth policy rewrite last week at the county courthouse in Polson.

The study is being conducted by Charlo-based Land Solutions, according to Joel Nelson, a consultant with the company.

Officials and residents met from 4 to 7 p.m. last Thursday, the second in a series of five meetings around the county that will go through July 25.

Residents have been asked through an email blast, Nelson said, to answer survey questions at www.planlakecounty.com.

Working with Lake County officials, the Polson City-County Planning Board and the Lake County Planning Board, Nelson said that Land Consultants has asked for public input on the rewrite.

“We’re trying to get some public feedback,” Nelson said.

Residents were asked to place a green sticker by plans they thought worked and red stickers by areas that may not.

Nelson said that in 2003, the county adopted the current growth policy.

A growth policy, he explained, is a “guiding policy document” that officials and the public can use to obtain grants, among other uses, Nelson explained.

The document is reviewed every five years and updated as necessary. Within the last year or so, Nelson said that commissioners felt the need to update the policy.

While a growth policy doesn’t mandate regulation, it is the foundation for decisions made by officials, Nelson said.

Officials anticipate the study to be completed in February of 2018, Nelson said. The process was started in January.

According to the United States Census Bureau, it is estimated Lake County has 29,758 residents as of 2016.

In the first hour of the meeting, about 20 people attended.

The next meeting is today from 4-7 p.m. in at the Ferndale Community Center, 31857 S. Ferndale Drive.